Beginning later this month with Ridley Scott’s science fiction thriller “Prometheus,” the studio plans to offer high-definition versions of its films for sale at newly lowered prices about three weeks before making the movies available on discs and through video-on-demand services, studio executives said in interviews.

The new system is an aggressive bid to revive consumers’ interest in the purchase of movies, by giving them an earlier shot at films for about $15 each, down from a purchase price that is currently about $20.

Despite the heavy reliance upon UltraViolet, I find this news to be somewhat optimistic for the future of the industry. Still somewhat backward in its implementation, Fox has not entirely upset the established order for film distribution, but has, at the very least, broached the disruption of tradition in a fairly confident manner.

Given the glacial pace of the media industry's comprehension and adoption of modern distribution methods, it's compelling that Fox has taken the initiative — twice in the past year — to challenge the status quo. Although the end-result has yet to reach satisfactory levels for the consumer, I tend to derive plenty of hope from the mere fact that Fox has — somewhat unprompted — taken an introspective look at its backward methods, and sought to make improvements.

There's clearly much further for the industry to travel before we reach a modern take on media distribution, but at least some progress is being made. Progress that is ultimately, regardless of its short-term prospects, benefitting the consumer.